The cognitive authority of user-generated health information in an online forum for girls and young women
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/JD-05-2018-0083 |
| Published date | 14 January 2019 |
| Pages | 78-98 |
| Date | 14 January 2019 |
| Author | Noora Hirvonen,Alisa Tirroniemi,Terttu Kortelainen |
| Subject Matter | Library & information science,Records management & preservation,Document management,Classification & cataloguing,Information behaviour & retrieval,Collection building & management,Scholarly communications/publishing,Information & knowledge management,Information management & governance,Information management,Information & communications technology,Internet |
The cognitive authority of
user-generated health information
in an online forum for girls and
young women
Noora Hirvonen, Alisa Tirroniemi and Terttu Kortelainen
University of Oulu, Oulu, Finland
Abstract
Purpose –The purpose of this paper is to examine the role of one particular online discussion forum as a
potentially authoritative health information source for its users. The concept of cognitive authority is used as
a starting point for understanding information evaluation in this context. The focus is placed on the types of
information users seek for from this forum, the ways they assess the credibility of information obtained, and
their views on the impact of this information.
Design/methodology/approach –The empirical data were collected with a questionnaire survey from the
users of a Finnish online forum for girls and young women (n¼290). The data were analyzed qualitatively
with content analytic techniques and quantitatively by using descriptive analysis.
Findings –The forum was found to offer girls and young women the possibility to receive health
information from peers. It was viewed as an appropriate source for experiential rather than factual health
information and used to find information on sexuality, bodily functions and diets, for example. Author-related
cues, argumentation and tone, veracity and verification were recognized as means to evaluate information
credibility. Credibility evaluation was found to be linked with conceptions of the forum and the type of
information sought. A share of the respondents recognized the information obtained to have influence on their
thinking or behavior.
Originality/value –Based on the findings, it can be argued that the members of the online
forum –individually or collectively –can act as cognitive authorities for other users. The findings cannot be
generalized beyond this online forum, to Finnish girls or young women, or even the users of the online forum.
However, they provide insights into the ways young people evaluate user-generated information in a
particular online setting and domain of knowledge and as such contribute to research on cognitive authority,
credibility evaluation and information literacy.
Keywords Information literacy, Women, Communication, Health, Online communication, Cognitive authority
Paper type Research paper
1. Introduction
Health communication is often understood as one-way information transmission from
health authorities to patients ( Johnson and Case, 2012). However, people construct their
understanding of health issues with the help of a wide variety of information sources
ranging from professional to non-professional sources, and from factual, clinical and
technical information to personal experiences and experiences of others (Yates, 2013).
With the rise of social media, opportunities have increasingly emerged for people to reach
outside their immediate surroundings to find and share information in online environments.
While there has been a shift to the real-name web (Hogan, 2013), online environments that
allow anonymity are still widely used (see Sharon and John, 2018). Anonymous forums can
be particularly useful in obtaining and sharing information on delicate issues or things that
Journal of Documentation
Vol. 75 No. 1, 2019
pp. 78-98
© Emerald PublishingLimited
0022-0418
DOI 10.1108/JD-05-2018-0083
Received 29 May 2018
Revised 5 September 2018
Accepted 6 September 2018
The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available on Emerald Insight at:
www.emeraldinsight.com/0022-0418.htm
The authors would like to thank the reviewers as well as Professor Maija-Leena Huotari and PhD
Laura Palmgren-Neuvonen from the “Cognitive Authorities in Everyday Health Information
Environments of Young People (CogAHealth)”project, for their insightful comments, which were
of great help in revising the manuscript. The study was funded by the Academy of Finland
(Grant No. 299112).
78
JD
75,1
are difficult to discuss with people in one’s surroundings, such as sexual and mental health,
substance use (Abbas and Agosto, 2013; Lenhart et al., 2010) or gender identity (Pohjanen
and Kortelainen, 2016).
Despite the benefits, there are indications that using social media to discuss health
matters with others can also include negative influences on young people’shealth.For
example, harmful behavior can be normalized in an online community (see e.g. Dyson
et al., 2016). Moreover, concerns have been expressed about the lack of young people’s
abilities to assess information credibility (Nettleton et al., 2005; Fergie et al., 2012; Adams
et al., 2006) and, consequently, their vulnerability to misleading or even harmful
information (Cusack et al., 2017).
This study examines the role of one particular online discussion forum as a potentially
authoritative health information source for its users. As such, the study can be placed
within the body of research on information literacy which is seen as a set of contextual
competencies dependent on the purpose and context in which the information is sought,
used and evaluated (Grafstein, 2017). Information literacy can be viewed to be shaped as
people engage with information in different settings and develop ways of knowing what
information and information sources are important and how to access and use them in
acceptable ways in a particular context (Lloyd, 2017). In general, information literacy
research has focused on the capabilities needed to interact with information whereas the
closely related field of information behavior research has focused on the aspects and
factors influencing behavior, information seeking in particular (Hepworth and Walton,
2014). Health information behavior has to a large extent been investigated in relation to
severe health conditions or among specific patient populations rather than as something
taking place in the everyday lives of generally healthy people (Anker et al., 2011; Johnson
and Case, 2012). Information literacy research has focused on education and work rather
than everyday life (Martzoukou and Abdi, 2017) and its research in health settings is still
scarce (Hirvonen, 2015).
In the present study, the attention is on a specific online forum and its users’conceptions
on the information they seek for from this forum, the ways they assess the credibility of
information obtained, and their views on the influence of this information. The concept of
cognitive authority (Wilson, 1983) is used as a starting point for understanding information
evaluation in this context. The study is connected to a larger research project “Cognitive
Authorities in Everyday Health Information Environments of Young People”(CogAHealth)
which examines the ways cognitive authority is constructed in different contexts of young
people’s lives, including both formal and informal contexts where young people learn about
health. A discussion forum for girls and young women was selected as the context of the
present study and the decision to focus on females was dictated by the selection of the
particular forum (explained in more detail in sub-chapter 4.1 context). The aim of this study
is to increase understanding of an online forum as a potentially authoritative source for
health information for its users.
2. Literature review
2.1 The concept of cognitive authority
Wilson (1983) coined the concept of cognitive authority to refer to the kind of authority an
information source can possess that influences individuals’thoughts and that they
recognize as proper. According to Wilson (1983), people develop their understanding of the
world based on, first, first-hand experience and, second, on what is learned second-hand
from others. Wilson (1983, p. 15) stated “authority’s influence on us is thought proper
because he is thought credible, worthy of belief”; cognitive authorities are the information
sources, people or texts, that influence people’s thoughts and are deemed credible.
According to Wilson (1983), cognitive authority differs from both administrative authority
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Cognitive
authority
of health
information
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